Carmel Mission restoration nearly complete

The National Historic Landmark, founded in 1771, has been undergoing restoration and seismic retrofitting since August. Now, contractors and craftsman are adding the final touches to the project.

The work is meant to bring the basilica into compliance with modern safety codes and, most importantly, to ensure the safety of the 250,000 annual visitors the mission attracts.

Like most of California's missions, the Carmel Mission is in an earthquake-prone region.

"(Founder) Junipero Serra kind of chose a crazy place to line up all of these missions, right along the San Andreas fault," said Victor Grabrian, president of the Carmel Mission Foundation. Grabrian's nonprofit organization raises funds for the preservation of the Carmel Mission complex, including the current restoration and retrofitting efforts.

The organization is still a few hundred thousand dollars shy of what it needs to complete the project, but Grabrian is optimistic donors will provide the necessary funds for its completion, slated for the end of April.

Blach Construction leads the project, which has involved strengthening roof trusses and beams, driving hundreds of steel cores into the 220-year-old walls.

Unlike most California missions, which were built with adobe bricks, the Carmel Mission was constructed with sandstone.

"This one is very well built, made of stone, and the walls are about 5 feet thick," Grabrian said.

A temporary roof was built over the mission to protect the interior from inclement weather while builders worked on beams and wiring in the attic.

Signaling the near completion of the restoration, a large crane removed the temporary trusses Tuesday and Wednesday. The mission's tiles will now be replaced, restoring the iconic basilica to its pre-retrofitting likeness.

"Looking at the basilica when we're finished, you shouldn't be able to tell we've done any work," Grabrian said.

One exception, Grabrian noted, is the deceptively classic chandeliers that will be installed inside the basilica. The chandeliers will look like the ones seen in photographs of the mission from the 1940s, "except they're going to be high-tech, state-of-the-art lights," Grabrian said. "These little lights that you won't see from the chandeliers will light up the paintings and the artwork."

The LED chandeliers aren't the only high-tech touch involved in the mission's restoration. Prior to the restoration effort, the basilica was scanned with 3-D lasers that facilitated an accurate rendering of the structure. Within a couple of days, the green lasers cast billions of beams in every nook and cranny of the mission, generating digital blueprints useful for restoration work.

The laser-generated images, created by CyArk, will also facilitate online virtual visits to the mission.

"It will be great for kids that are studying the mission," Grabrian said. "Even if they can't get up here, they can actually see a 3-D visualization.